


The Gates

by Shimruto



Series: Surviving Homin bday month 2019 [1]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Fluff, Hard to explain, M/M, and i don't want to spoil the plot, in a city, that is not quite a city
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-22 23:24:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17672117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shimruto/pseuds/Shimruto
Summary: The first days were full of wonder and miracle and now…… now he is the rare “oldster” in this place of crossing.





	The Gates

**Author's Note:**

> this is me celebrating yunho's birthday)
> 
> this man deserves the happiness of the thousands worlds and i will never be able to give back what he did for me without realizing.
> 
> to the biggest softie who can snap anything in half with bare hands but chooses the light side of the world. ilysm. be happy!

One more step and Yunho takes a familiar turn from the street filled with the Japanese noodle shops into the alley which drowns in the sweet odour from the bakery.

It is a small but cute store with the open windows dressed in the colorful flower pots.

Yunho intends to pass by this bakery every morning but… just can’t do that. He stops by the entrance near the cart with the big variety choice and immediately smiles recalling the times he bought the bread for Changmin before visiting his police headquarters. His little tradition of their army days. The memory of his favourite maknae’s face when he saw all those piles of bread entering the view before Yunho himself still sends him into bubbling laughter. The younger’s munching expression being the first thing that made Yunho lose himself in daydreaming  since 2002 and all years after.

He calls for the owner, buys the bread again and goes further hugging the paper bag much gentler than a person has to.

 

*

 

Leisurely Yunho reaches the square that is swarming with people, the mix of nationalities adding to the color blinks from the diverse restaurants that embrace the busiest center of the small city. It seems the new line arrived only recently as the excited chatter can be heard from those who met up by the fountain in the middle.

He remembers being the same smitten newcomer, gaping around and apologizing for his stumbling from time to time.

The first days were full of wonder and miracle and now…

… now he is the rare “oldster” in this place of crossing.

He catches the big Gates in the north part of the square already shut back and takes a closer look at the faces around.  A defeated sigh follows almost involuntarily.

Most of his friends left today. And though it is the time he should be accustomed to the constant circle of partings, every day like this brings a wave of sadness and a faint whirl of unbearable longing which Yunho tries to lock away until he crashes the path he promised not to follow.

He shakes his head and pouts his lips to evoke the salutary _yunho-mode_ to boost his energy and walks to the Gates, looking over its simple but at the same time spellbound outlines.

A person sitting by the desk raises his head and stops his continuous writing.

Yunho hurries up and cheerfully greets him.

_As on any other day._

“Aren’t you going to pass the Gates too, Yunho-shi?”

“I am”

“But what takes you so long? Considering your passion I thought you would be able to finish the statement right on the first day of your arrival and go further”

_Right… the statement…_

This conversation happened so many times that Yunho runs out of the excuses already. He wonders how long he will be able to dodge these questions until someone drags him by force to the next _destination_ (if that is even possible).

“Well… I have some troubles writing it. I want it to be perfect”

The usual bright smile that saved him from other people prying into his soul all his life is now in place. And as usual it seems the man by the desk is the only addition to Changmin who can see past his perfect acting.

Yunho almost hiccups as he is being scrutinized under the sharp stare. But the man puts the same gleeful expression again and plays along, sparing Yunho of the inevitable confrontation for the reason he doesn’t understand. Or rather doesn’t want to acknowledge in those knowing eyes.

“Sure! Nothing less from you! Please work hard!”

“Thank you! You too!” 

Yunho leaves some bagels from his bag on the table, a shy offering for _just one more day_.

He knows the man will not eat them. But the gratitude is too strong.

And Yunho is a man who doesn’t stop following his code even _here_.

 

*

 

On his way to the dormitory he manages to make friends with an old man who doesn’t let go of his cigar even while he is cleaning the fish, a young woman who keeps looking around meekly still half-way accepting the power to decide her surroundings as she likes, a young boy whose best friend Fluffy wins Yunho’s heart in a second and two men who are arguing about the climate here being all wrong for their health (as if that matters now).

Yunho enters his apartment and opens the window letting the cooling wind inside. He goes to fold his washed clothes with special care, humming the tune of _Easy Mind_ not to lose focus.

After finishing the chores he treats himself to a bottle of banana milk from the fringe not forgetting to check the expiry date on the beer package near it. He writes a note on the wall to buy a new pack tomorrow and moves to tenderly pack away the stale and completely untouched loafs of the corn-, garlic- and egg-bread, several fig bagels, some chibattas and one perfect apple pie from the splint basket only to fill it again with the new portion from today’s bakery bag.

Pleased with himself he goes to the balcony, puts a new book on the lounge chair, takes a seat on the opposite one and continues to bite the straw lightly after sipping the milk till the end.

The view is breathtaking.

As usual.

 

But something is still missing.

 

*

 

The small shop is not crowded. It seems a lot of people managed to pass further quicker than expected.

The sun is almost at its peak but Yunho is still hovering near the food shelves trying to remember the ingredients from the list that is annoyingly lying forgotten at the dormitory. _Totally_ on the table by the door. _Totally_ keeping company to the sunglasses he _finally_ found yesterday.

In the end he gives up on the special dinner menu, hurriedly pays for the beer and ice cream and _walk-runningly_ leaves the shop for the square.

The man by the Gates is about to resume their ceremonial again but Yunho stops under the shadow of the peach tree that one of the ladies is growing near her Chinese café.

He scans the crowd one by one, and then again.

The whirlpool of the newcomers starts clearing away and Yunho sighs heavily, letting corners of his mouth lose its buoyant signature look. Against his will he gives in to the inner turmoil that was buried deep down and ignored for far too long to be able to fight the assaulting waves of his yearnful heart now.

Several minutes or maybe eternities pass and he notices the ground near him becoming wet. The ice cream started to melt. Yunho instinctively brushes along the bottom of the bag and now his hand is all sticky.

He hesitates for a second when-

“Don’t you dare to lick your fingers before washing up, hyung!”

The voice on the right reaches him and envelopes tenderly like honey, every cell of his body finally getting the key to open and breathe, the chippy angles meeting the perfect counterpart to finally weld together in one _again._

Yunho turns, eyes the halfmoons, voice two hundred degree warmer.

“Why are you so quick, Changdollah?”

Changmin tilts his head chuckling and takes a slow step towards him.

“Like you will ever survive alone for long. Just look how you wasted the ice cream…”

Yunho’s never moved so quickly.

He hugs Changmin so tight that he can count the bones of the younger but he doesn’t care.

Because the return hug is not in the least weaker.

They stay like this for a while and Yunho glances at the same breathtaking view that accompanied him all this time.

But at last…

… nothing is missing anymore.

 

*

 

On this way back Yunho drops _hello_ here and there but for the first time he doesn’t try to make any new friends.

His left hand is full of bags.

His right hand is full of heaven.

 

*

 

They come to the apartment and Changmin sneers.

“Really, hyung?”

“What?”

Changmin makes a show of sliding his eyes along the walls and furniture.

“The dorm? You couldn’t recreate anything other but this?”

“Well I was sentimental and it was a perfect opportunity to reminisce…”

“I don’t care. I change it”

Yunho jumps at the rooms changing the color and the too-familiar furnishing appearing out of the thin air to take its rightful place.

“Hey! Bring it back! Why the Japanese flat instead?!”

“Because I want to feel a bit like home?”

“The dorm was also home…”

The pout on Yunho’s face makes Changmin bite his cheeks not to grin like a madman and sweep the man off the feet with the intention to cuddle him to death _(or at least something similar in these circumstances)._ He restrains himself by accepting the fact that Yunho is about to get what he wants with that _aegyo_ of his but still tries to give it a shot.

“But not as much as this place? Besides our age now doesn’t match the dorm era. Or you want to shed a decade to use it as an opportunity to make up for the unfulfilled teenager confession?”

Yunho is all red now. The eyes darting back and forth from the embarrassment and the tempting nature of this suggestion.

 _Which_ hits Changmin like a truck because he wanted only to tease the older but received the always-knock-downing pure response to his non-filtered ideas.

Changmin should have already learned by now but… _You are never prepared to Yunho’s track of mind_. And as he doesn’t want to overwhelm them right on the first day he takes Yunho’s hand and gently caresses it with his thumb.

“Hyung… do you want to change it to the Korean one?”

“No, it’s ok”

“Hyung, don’t sulk. Here. I changed it back but just so you know… I will not bring back that awful kitchen. The kitchen from the Japanese house is too expensive to be wasted like this. So we will compromise like this – you can have the whole space and I will have the power only over the kitchen. Deal?”

Yunho looks Changmin in the eye and they fall into one of their worlds for two again.

 “Anything you want, Minah”

 

*

 

Changmin’s face gets redder and redder as he sees the storage of beer and bread and cooking books and favourite hoodies around. Yunho himself tries hard not to combust in flames silently watching the maknae’s range of emotions.

They are preparing the dinner and Yunho helps to cut the vegetables because he _earned_ this right after so many years together in the end (no one has to know about one night when his _official exam_ might or might not have ended up with a rather hot and satisfying mark from the chef himself).

Changmin moves so natural and so _home_ that Yunho feels a lump in his throat coming and going away in circles.

They eat in comfortable silence, filling up the plates of each other with personal favourites while the other is not looking. And if while washing the dishes they occasionally brush the fingers in the water – the only reason is because the soap is too thick to see where one’s hands end and the other’s begin.

 

But maybe it has always been like this.

 

*

 

In the dusk by the moon the scenery is painted in Kuindzhi style. The air has cooled down and the occasional birds send off the day with the soothing warble.

They go to the balcony, move the chairs to make some space and throw the pile of cushions and blankets on the floor, tripping each other and falling with a laughter crystal as dew.

Yunho is so happy that he can almost feel the beating pulse of the universe around him. He _is that pulse_ at the moment.

They look outside at the smudged outlines of the landscape.

“You are really something, hyung”

“Why?”

“I saw what you did”

Yunho turns to look at Changmin only to hide his eyes behind his arm in a pretence carefree manner.

“Don’t know what you are talking about!”

He feels the younger shift closer and tries not to shudder. Changmin’s breath is tickling his ear and the whisper only adds up to the panic that is starting inside.

“I saw the square… just like Spain. And the Italian restaurants with that famous pasta and the ramen shops from Japan and the bakeries from Seoul… and those mountains are just like Jeju… and those rainforests are like Koh Samui and…”

“Ok, I got it, I got it”

Yunho covers Changmin’s mouth, frantic to find a less sappy excuse. He was so lonely here at the beginning that every day while going through the memories about the person who shared his whole life he managed to pull forward by recreating the pieces of their world here **.** Combining and mixing the things that transformed his earth bliss into a temporary paradise at this crossing. His enthusiasm took him to the outstanding details and complexity but…

The shy hesitation creeps back as Yunho thinks how he can go completely overboard with his romantic nature.

“Don’t you like it?”

A jolt of surprise crosses Changmin’s features but he quickly recovers by finding Yunho’s hand and locking their fingers.

Eyes mismatched, lips touched by the fondest smile.

“Oh no… I _love_ it. Thank you!”

They drink in the stellate night sky, all limbs jumbled together.

 

 

“So what do we have to do now?”

The tension snakes into the air around Yunho but he shrugs it off trying to sound prosily. If Changmin notices anything he doesn’t let it show.

“We have to write the statement of our lives”

“Is it hard to do?”

“No… We should just mention what we accomplished and what we wish to do in the next life, what you are proud of and what you want to have a chance to change…”

Changmin listens and thinks that if anything – Yunho would be the first to pass it. But he doesn’t ask why Yunho hasn’t submitted anything yet. The key to the code is carved in _~~their~~_ his heart. It’s not a long sequence – about four-letter.

“So we have to make a decent job on this task”

“Yes… we have to”

Yunho feels the reversed flow in his heart finally slowing down its pressure. He knows Changmin caught on his hesitation but as always gave him space and time to sort everything out for himself. Never breaking that motto of their different paces calms him down and his eyes start fluttering under the weight of all sleepless nights here.

“Should we sleep, hyung?”

Yunho blinks trying to fight the slumber that is mercilessly winning over him powered up by the familiar warmth. He is about to get up to head for the bedroom when Changmin tugs on his arm.

“I am so tired after today. Let’s just stay here”

The younger doesn’t wait till the answer comes and covers both of them with the softest blanket, tucking the corners on the Yunho’s side. They are pressed together but Yunho knows it’s never close enough for them. He snuggles against Changmin’s chest trapped in the protection nook under his chin.

“Changminnie”

“Yes, hyung”

“I am so happy you are finally here”

“Me too, hyung. Me too”

 

*

 

The sun is slowly making its way along their faces and Yunho opens the eyes to the clearest sky.

It is the birth of the dawn and the whole city is still asleep.

His reflexes are about to make him jump into the morning routine but he feels a warm hand pushing him back coupled with the heavy leg blocking all his ways out.

“Don’t move” mumbles Changmin with the voice too hoarse and leaving no room for arguing.

Willingly succumbing to this order Yunho recalls that there is no practice, no photoshoots, no events and no work to attend today... and tomorrow.

The past Yunho would feel restless trying to let out the energy that was bursting out him but this Yunho grasps the opportunity, completely nonexistent before, and closes his eyes again.

He feels the little hums on his collarbone and falls asleep again wishing to stay in this serene paradise forever.

 

*

 

“Hyung, want to watch a TV?”

“Umm can we?”

“… you want to tell me you spend so much time here and didn’t even try to check?”

Changmin’s intonation has the same color as those times when he bought something in a set of two and Yunho didn’t dare to touch anything thinking it was just a spare item. He had the same color when Yunho started to take Changmin’s things without asking too. A confusing puberty era of their relationship.

“Well… it’s not like the internet can work in the… limbo.. purgatory… where are we again?”

“You talk with people and understand the languages you never learned, you can transform the room to what you want and put the mountains right outside your balcony but you doubt that you can watch a TV?”

“No need to be so Changmin-detailed…”

“How-detailed?”

“So lovely detailed”

Changmin squints and tries not to think how that puppy smile is probably taking the first place on preventing their arguments changing into savage battles.

Yunho takes the beer out of the fridge.

“So what are we going to watch?”

 

 

“ _Dokkaebi_ is never old to watch” says Changmin munching on the bagels right from the basket.

“I bet you still wanted to rewatch _Sky Castle_ instead of this” snorts Yunho.

“I did not!”

“Really? You binge watched it. Whenever I called you it was always on the background, you even spent hours discussing the theories with Minseok, a poor boy by the way – bless his patience. Honestly… I was so afraid to disturb you that I even stopped messaging you in the evenings”

“Stupid”

“Excuse me?”

“I watched it when I was alone”

“And...”

“And that is it”

Changmin is half way through the apple pie now, stuffing inside as much as humanly possible, apparently forcing himself to shut up. As if he forgot that Yunho knows everything about _how to wait for Shim Changmin._

Three minutes pass and Changmin finally gives up on fake-chewing the fake crumbs in his mouth.

“ _This…_ we watched _together_ and _that…_ I watched alone while thinking you would show up out of the curiosity but you… _stupid_ ”

“Oh”

Yunho is about to literally become the last flame of Changmin’s life by dying from the realization but the soundtrack blasting from the TV together with the famous action scene save him. Again.

“Changdollah… do you remember how we wanted to grow old just as cool as Gong Yoo and Lee Dongwook?”

“Not _as cool as_ them but cooler”

“Yeah right…”

“But hyung…”

“Hm?”

“I think we succeeded”

“Changminnie…”

The lumps becoming a constant part of Yunho’s throat lately turn him speechless. He stares at Changmin, willing to find the right words but the ones that come never have the depth of Yunho’s feelings and he feels at point zero, clueless at how to let Changmin see his gratitude, his love and his heart that has the other person engrained in it.

Changmin takes a pillow, puts it on his knees and Yunho doesn’t need an invitation twice. He lays his head on it and immediately feels the soothing hands – that took away the pain and gave the pleasure for all his life – possess the same effect even after death.

_Forever._

 

*

 

After days of catching up and sweet exploring of each other again Yunho drags Changmin out in the streets to show him the favourite places. Changmin follows, diligently listening to the stories and the memories that he shared with the person who is now blabbering them away as if for the first time.

They make a stop at the café and Yunho leaves Changmin for a second. A mischief in his eyes.

He returns with the newspaper in the language they both don’t know and stretches it out to Changmin.

“You always wanted to try to look like a rich important guy – so take it, drink your coffee and enjoy the press at the beautiful café”

“I was that rich important guy… if you happened to forget this in your latest days”

“How could I when you were always near to remind me this?”

The gaze in Yunho’s eyes is so bluntly soft that Changmin swears at himself for getting red all over.

_Seriously! Even here!!_

He looks back and is thrilled to bits to see Yunho to start fidgeting under his intense stare. The older is so flustered and flushed that Changmin feels the familiar urge in him… only this time everything is different.

“You are right… there was something I always wanted to do at the beautiful cafés”

“What?”

Changmin stretches his hand to the newspaper but misses it by a centimeter.

Catching Yunho’s hand.

“Changminah!”

“What? It’s not like anyone cares here”

 

The gust of wind catches the newspaper and lifts it to awning above their table.

Changmin feels Yunho relax in his hold and they stay like this till the end of the lunch.

The touch warmer than hot chocolate at winter, the sunshine reflected on their cheeks, the freedom finally settling as a friend by their side.

 

*

 

“This book is nice. It may help me to write the statement”

They found an old book store to hide from the noon heat and are now checking out the most interesting covers occasionally using each other as a pillar for reading.

“You wrote the songs in two languages, Changminnie. You don’t need any help in writing it”

“Do _you_ need it?”

Yunho’s hands are almost paralyzed from the casually thrown question. He does a poor job in fighting a nervous smile and the stray thoughts that are flooding him.

“No! I am totally fine”

Changmin hugs him from behind – an excuse to kiss Yunho’s shoulder, an excuse to let the older get a hold of his face again, an excuse to hide his own growing worry till later.

“I know. You are Uknow Yunho. Your sole advice may actually help this organization to improve their work and it will take a really thick book to fit it in”

Yunho laughs, as carefree as only he can, and Changmin recalls how it is enough for him to fight anything.

“Let’s go, hyung”

He takes him by the arm and they choose a devious route to go home.

Changmin can’t help but see Yunho’s hunching shoulders every time he mentions the _statement_ or takes a pencil to write his own. The eyes burning so much as if he tries to destroy all paper existing. The reactions so raw that Yunho might not comprehend till the end what is happening to him.

Changmin doesn’t mention this to him.

Instead he pulls Yunho into a dim alley and kisses him as sweetly as the cake that the older fed him this morning.

 

*

 

When Changmin drops a line of wanting to try something new, Yunho returns with a big box under his arm. His smile is rivaling that of a child who got all the cookies in the world.

Changmin watches Yunho clearing the floor and inviting him to enjoy the surprise after tearing the cover of the box.

“Really, hyung?” snickers Changmin. “A puzzle?”

“What? It’s fun!”

“Sure”

Changmin joins Yunho on the floor and not so accidently sits right behind him while leaning on the couch.

“I broke the meaning of _Puzzles_ for you, hyung” his breath brushes Yunho’s neck.

“Changmin!”

“What? It is not me who changed the semantics after listening to _Closer_ every night before sleep”

His voice is all suggestive and playful but he stops when Yunho turns around and pins him down with his eyes. All serious.

Just as he is about his feelings all the time.

Just as he is about _them_ all the time.

_Just as always._

“Your voice helped me to fall asleep when I couldn’t”

Changmin closes the little gap they have and feels their pieces and angles coming together in the perfect joint.

“I know, hyung”

He wraps around Yunho like a koala and lets him continue to excitedly try every piece of that 1000 puzzle to match the other before even trying to separate them by color.

Changmin looks at the red notebook lying on the table covered by the leftovers from their dinner and tries to focus on his fingers connected to Yunho’s warmth, feeling his heartbeat to pick up on Yunho’s happy rhythm and merge in the perfect duo.

 

*

 

In the end Changmin spends some time writing the statement and Yunho just can’t sit still near him. He takes his book and goes to the bedroom.

Changmin contemplates following him right away but understands that the _time_ is coming and he really needs to work up the courage to talk to Yunho about this. Especially if the older intends to keep it to himself again.

Two hours pass and the dusk is setting outside.

Changmin makes coffee and chooses the most ridiculous cups Yunho bewitched him to buy.

He finds the older sitting on the windowstool, the knees bent, the book clutched to his chest as if it helps him not to be swept away by a ghost hurricane. He doesn’t notice Changmin until the younger comes so close that he is reflected in the window.

“Coffee at night? We have to sleep, Changminah”

“That’s why I added milk in yours”

Changmin gives Yunho the cup and settles on the opposite side of the windowstool. The legs entwining in a familiar chaotic huddle.

“Should we go on a trip, hyung?”

“You know we can’t do that. This city is just an illusion. We can’t go outside it”

“Good. I wouldn’t want to sleep on the ground again” says Changmin sipping on his drink and Yunho is about to push that irritatingly cute cup out of his hand.

“Hey! You said you liked that trip!”

“I did. The best moments being… when we drove in the air-conditioned car and… ate at the tasty by-road restaurants and…”

“Ok! I got it! Everything _before_ the hike and every moment when you could…”

“… look at you smiling and happy and dragging me into a hug for another pic and talking nonstop how excited you were to see the sunset”

Yunho’s heart skips a bit, or two.

This ability of Changmin to hold him together even when he thought that he was completely powerless, the sudden storm of love and care poured solely on him behind the closed doors, the sweet and thoughtful gestures that made Yunho fear he was making it all up in his dreams. The reality was too much of an attained paradise that sometimes he would wake up and pinch his skin to check he was not under any spell. 

_How can he just…_

“Yunho, you do know that I love you”

“Yes! What kind of thoughts…”

“We spent a whole life together. You can tell me everything. I thought we were past the secrets and bottled up feelings”

“I am okay, Changminah”

Taking a deep sigh Changmin puts his cup down, stretches along Yunho and takes his coffee to drink it up.

“Ok. Then as soon as you are ready”

 Yunho ruffles his hair.

“Thank you, Changdollah”

Changmin hums and closes his eyes. Just one more night and he will see how to approach this, how to bring it up as gentle as he could because Yunho-

“Wow, Changminah… shouldn’t you have lost all your grey hair after coming here?”

If it were a real city it would have been disturbed by the crash that follows after this.

 

*

 

There comes a day when Yunho wakes up to the soft music playing in the living room. He kicks himself from the bed and finds Changmin playing the guitar, the hair is a cute nest and the stubble is too evident but who cares.

He is about to join him when he sees a paper carefully folded and signed by his name.

He stops and feels a bit annoyed by Changmin’s too sweetly calculated move to catch him off guard and finally break through.

As always.

“Changmin…”

The younger breaks the last accord and puts the guitar aside.

The eyes are full of resolution.

Yunho knows – today he will not be able to run away or sugarcoat his worries.

“Hyung, I saw your statement. It’s not even started”

“The words are hard to come by and…”

“Hyung. I understand but… look, Yunho… we really need to go through those Gates”

Now uttered aloud the idea sends Yunho into a desperate dismal. He looks away to recollect himself.

“I can go first, hyung. How about switching age? You will be able to be my cutest dongsaeng”

Changmin’s eyes are mismatched and Yunho should feel much better because Changmin is trying to fix it for both of them and without knowing the reason for all of this he still cares for Yunho’s feelings by attempting to make him laugh. Yunho is on a verge of completely embarrassing himself by letting out the sobs that are much worse than those during the last concert of the WITH tour.

Changmin is by his side in a heartbeat.

“Hyung, what is wrong?”

“Nothing”

“Hyung, stop it! I see how you react to the statement… or rather what follows after the Gates. But are you really afraid of the next life? Or is it because our previous one was too hard? I can’t deny it but… we managed to accomplish a lot of things and brought a lot of dreams to life. I may understand that you are tired after this but… honestly… I know you are too energetic and passionate to stay here and spend the eternity in this illusion. You have the fire that needs to find the exit and the other people deserve to feel inspired by you again. You like to work hard… and frankly speaking me too. So please tell me… what is happening to you?”

Changmin’s grasp on Yunho’s shoulders deepens and Yunho breaks a little.

“I am… afraid”

“Afraid of what?”

“What if we…”

Yunho looks up at Changmin and knows that now he will not be able to stop. Not when all the memories flood him – the happiest ones stabbing him with maximum anxiety. Not when he starts being selfish and _completely, absolutely, entirely_ doesn’t want to cut this feeling. Because what if…

“What if we don’t meet again?”

Changmin’s eyes widen with surprise, definitely not the answer he expected, and Yunho just lets go.

“What if I fail to find you? What if we miss each other? I mean… even in this life the fact that we met is just a miracle! And after… after that we went through so much and I just… I want to be selfish and finally be with you when no one around gives a damn about who we are and what we do… and I thank all the gods existing that this crossing point exists because what if that doesn’t happen again and I will never see you? What if…”

“Hyung, hyung, stop!” Changmin cups Yunho’s cheeks and steps a bit closer. “Breathe”

And Yunho does.

Because Changmin is air and water and just everything Yunho needs as an axis of his universe.

“We will meet” the younger’s voice is calm and steady but Yunho is still shaking in the aftermath of his fearquake.

“You can’t…”

“Hyung! We will find each other and we will meet no matter what and we will always be together in any life that is to come”

“What if I … do not recognize you…”

“What kind of nonsense? You will always recognize me”

“But if you…”

“I will recognize you too”

“How can you be so sure?”

Changmin tilts his head and shines with the smile that reaches the sun.

“Just tell me to quit… and I will get it”

Yunho lets out a shuddering breath as if his lungs finally uncurled from the reef knot.

He presses their foreheads together. The heartbeat slowing down from the crazy race it experienced enters a normal pace, synchronizing with Changmin’s.

Just as usual.

Just as they are.

 

*

 

They succeed in asking for the statements to be accepted on the same day.

Entering the vast building they see the room that could have passed for the court or for the concert hall or for the practice room at once.

There are people sitting by the high tables, busy with the papers.

Changmin squeezes Yunho’s hand and leaves a light kiss on his cheek nudging him further. He takes a seat on one of the wooden benches in the deserted hall.

Yunho goes to the central table and the people raise their heads.

“Name?”

“Jung Yunho”

“Your reason to be here?”

Yunho feels his palms starting to sweat a little and tries to wipe them on his pants feeling a cooling metal brushing along his wrist. He looks down and sees the silver bracelet with an anchor– the past that is too precious and the present that is too unreal and the future that is exciting. He looks back and sees the person who embodies all these things for him. The mismatched smile sends the chain reaction in easing him of pressure and he returns the favor back with the sunbeam of his own.

He breathes in and feels energetic as he has always been.

The mind is cleared from any doubts.

He turns around.

Eyes confident, voice powerful.

“I am here to make a statement”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! and please enjoy this year in a cherful yunho-style!


End file.
